This application relates to and claims priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 11-26427 filed on Feb. 3, 1999, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to condensers, and particularly to a separator-integrated condenser for a vehicle air conditioner including a separating unit which separates gas-liquid two-phase refrigerant into gas refrigerant and liquid refrigerant and stores liquid refrigerant therein.
2. Related Art
JP-A-7-180930 discloses a separator-integrated condenser for a vehicle air conditioner which includes a separating unit to reduce a mounting space thereof in a vehicle in comparison with that of the condenser and the separating unit separately mounted. The separating unit is formed into a tank shape, and is disposed to extend in a top-bottom direction of the vehicle (i.e., in a direction of gravity) for separating gas-liquid two-phase refrigerant into gas refrigerant and liquid refrigerant by a density difference between gas refrigerant and liquid refrigerant. A sectional area of the separating unit is set relatively small to further reduce a mounting space of the separator-integrated condenser. The separating unit has an inlet through which refrigerant flows into the separating unit and an outlet through which refrigerant is discharged from the separating unit. The inlet is formed to be disposed below a surface of liquid refrigerant in the separating unit when the separating unit is operated under a normal condition. The outlet is formed below the inlet in the separating unit. As a result, refrigerant from the inlet is introduced directly into a lower part of liquid refrigerant stored in the separating unit, and the surface of liquid refrigerant in the separating unit is restricted from being disturbed by dynamic pressure of entering refrigerant. Therefore, gas refrigerant is restricted from being discharged from the outlet, and gas-liquid two-phase refrigerant is sufficiently separated into gas refrigerant and liquid refrigerant even when the sectional area of the separating unit is relatively small.
However, in a vehicle such as a cabover truck or an one-box car in which an engine is disposed in a lower part of a passenger compartment, the above-mentioned separator-integrated condenser needs to be disposed in a substantially horizontal direction. As a result, since the inlet and the outlet are disposed relatively adjacent to each other, gas refrigerant may be discharged from the outlet without being separated from gas-liquid two-phase refrigerant by the separating unit. Even when the separator-integrated condenser is disposed to be inclined at up to 45 degrees with respect to a horizontal direction, gas refrigerant may be also discharged from the outlet.
In view of the foregoing problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a separator-integrated condenser including a separating unit in which gas-liquid two-phase refrigerant is sufficiently separated into gas refrigerant and liquid refrigerant even when the condenser is mounted in a substantially horizontal direction or mounted to be inclined at a predetermined angle with respect to a horizontal direction.
According to the present invention, a separator-integrated condenser includes a condensing unit having a core portion for condensing refrigerant and a header tank into which the refrigerant condensed by the core portion is collected, and a separating unit for separating the refrigerant into gas refrigerant and liquid refrigerant. The separating unit is integrally formed with the header tank so that a longitudinal direction of the separating unit coincides with a longitudinal direction of the header tank. The separating unit includes an inlet through which the refrigerant in the header tank is introduced into the separating unit, and an outlet through which the refrigerant is discharged from the separating unit. The inlet is formed at a first longitudinal end of the separating unit, and the outlet is formed at a second longitudinal end of the separating unit. The header tank and the separating unit are inclined at a predetermined angle with respect to a horizontal direction in the longitudinal directions thereof, so that the first longitudinal end of the separating unit is disposed at an upper side of the second longitudinal end of the separating unit.
As a result, the inlet is disposed at an upper side of the outlet, and is sufficiently away from the outlet. Therefore, the refrigerant introduced from the inlet is sufficiently separated into gas refrigerant and liquid refrigerant due to gravity while flowing through the separating unit toward the outlet, and the outlet is constantly immersed in the liquid refrigerant stored in the separating unit. As a result, the gas refrigerant is restricted from being discharged from the outlet.
When the separating unit is disposed in a substantially horizontal direction, the inlet is formed at an upper side of the outlet in the separating unit. As a result, refrigerant is sufficiently separated into gas refrigerant and liquid refrigerant while flowing a sufficiently long flow path between the inlet and the outlet, and gas refrigerant is restricted from being discharged from the outlet. Thus, even when the separator-integrated condenser including the separation unit is mounted in a substantially horizontal direction or mounted to be inclined at a predetermined angle, refrigerant is sufficiently separated into gas refrigerant and liquid refrigerant by the separating unit.